http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091227/ap_on_he_me/as_med_when_drugs_stop_working_killer_tb
Artlcle wanders around, but here's some recent developments in the
world health picture.
(quoting part)
Forty years ago, the world thought it had conquered TB and any number
of other diseases through the new wonder drugs: Antibiotics. U.S.
Surgeon General William H. Stewart announced it was "time to close the
book on infectious diseases and declare the war against pestilence
won."
Today, all the leading killer infectious diseases on the planet � TB,
malaria and HIV among them � are mutating at an alarming rate,
hitchhiking their way in and out of countries. The reason: Overuse and
misuse of the very drugs that were supposed to save us.
Just as the drugs were a manmade solution to dangerous illness, the
problem with them is also manmade. It is fueled worldwide by
everything from counterfeit drugmakers to the unintended consequences
of giving drugs to the poor without properly monitoring their
treatment. Here's what the AP found:
� In Cambodia, scientists have confirmed the emergence of a new
drug-resistant form of malaria, threatening the only treatment left to
fight a disease that already kills 1 million people a year.
� In Africa, new and harder to treat strains of HIV are being detected
in about 5 percent of new patients. HIV drug resistance rates have
shot up to as high as 30 percent worldwide.
� In the U.S., drug-resistant infections killed more than 65,000
people last year � more than prostate and breast cancer combined. More
than 19,000 people died from a staph infection alone that has been
eliminated in Norway, where antibiotics are stringently limited.
"Drug resistance is starting to be a very big problem. In the past,
people stopped worrying about TB and it came roaring back. We need to
make sure that doesn't happen again," said Dr. Thomas Frieden,
director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who
was himself infected with tuberculosis while caring for drug-resistant
patients at a New York clinic in the early '90s. "We are all connected
by the air we breathe, and that is why this must be everyone's
problem."
(unquote)
At least we're not worrying so much right now about the prions in "mad
cow disease." For awhile there I was worrying that diseases could
leach from burials into the ground water.
Have a Happy New Year, bookburn
--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.
<book...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:8hchj5tse14bkf62d...@4ax.com...
In the news today is an article on a new and dangerous
variant of TB
springing up in Florida. Seems that the old infectious
diseases are
on the rise again and medications tend to produce stronger
mutations.
See the article at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091227/ap_on_he_me/as_med_when_drugs_stop_working_killer_tb
Artlcle wanders around, but here's some recent developments
in the
world health picture.
(quoting part)
Forty years ago, the world thought it had conquered TB and
any number
of other diseases through the new wonder drugs: Antibiotics.
U.S.
Surgeon General William H. Stewart announced it was "time to
close the
book on infectious diseases and declare the war against
pestilence
won."
Today, all the leading killer infectious diseases on the
planet - TB,
malaria and HIV among them - are mutating at an alarming
rate,
hitchhiking their way in and out of countries. The reason:
Overuse and
misuse of the very drugs that were supposed to save us.
Just as the drugs were a manmade solution to dangerous
illness, the
problem with them is also manmade. It is fueled worldwide by
everything from counterfeit drugmakers to the unintended
consequences
of giving drugs to the poor without properly monitoring
their
treatment. Here's what the AP found:
. In Cambodia, scientists have confirmed the emergence of a
new
drug-resistant form of malaria, threatening the only
treatment left to
fight a disease that already kills 1 million people a year.
. In Africa, new and harder to treat strains of HIV are
being detected
in about 5 percent of new patients. HIV drug resistance
rates have
shot up to as high as 30 percent worldwide.
. In the U.S., drug-resistant infections killed more than
65,000
people last year - more than prostate and breast cancer
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091227/ap_on_he_me/as_med_when_drugs_stop_working_killer_tb
Artlcle wanders around, but here's some recent developments
in the
world health picture.
(quoting part)
Forty years ago, the world thought it had conquered TB and
any number
of other diseases through the new wonder drugs: Antibiotics.
U.S.
Surgeon General William H. Stewart announced it was "time to
close the
book on infectious diseases and declare the war against
pestilence
won."
Today, all the leading killer infectious diseases on the
planet - TB,
malaria and HIV among them - are mutating at an alarming
rate,
hitchhiking their way in and out of countries. The reason:
Overuse and
misuse of the very drugs that were supposed to save us.
Just as the drugs were a manmade solution to dangerous
illness, the
problem with them is also manmade. It is fueled worldwide by
everything from counterfeit drugmakers to the unintended
consequences
of giving drugs to the poor without properly monitoring
their
treatment. Here's what the AP found:
. In Cambodia, scientists have confirmed the emergence of a
new
drug-resistant form of malaria, threatening the only
treatment left to
fight a disease that already kills 1 million people a year.
. In Africa, new and harder to treat strains of HIV are
being detected
in about 5 percent of new patients. HIV drug resistance
rates have
shot up to as high as 30 percent worldwide.
. In the U.S., drug-resistant infections killed more than
65,000
people last year - more than prostate and breast cancer